Barton County Farm Bureau honors 150- and 100-year farm families

Country Connect Couple returns

The Lanterman family was named a Sesquicentennial Farm Family at the 106th annual Barton County Farm Bureau meeting. Duane and Robert Lanterman’s great-great-grandfather acquired 160 acres of land in Barton County in 1873.

Lanterman farm 150 — The Lanterman family was named a Sesquicentennial Farm Family at the 106th annual Barton County Farm Bureau meeting. Duane and Robert Lanterman’s great-great-grandfather acquired 160 acres of land in Barton County in 1873.

Shannon and Paul Holder from Basehor are pictured with Melissa Nelson Baldwin, right, at the Barton County Farm Bureau’s 106th annual meeting, Sunday at Performance Crop Research. The Holders, from the Kansas City metropolitan area, were BCFB’s first Country Connection couple, spending a few days here during harvest. - photo by photos by Susan Thacker/Great Bend Tribune

country connect holder 2025 — Shannon and Paul Holder from Basehor are pictured with Melissa Nelson Baldwin, right, at the Barton County Farm Bureau’s 106th annual meeting, Sunday at Performance Crop Research. The Holders, from the Kansas City metropolitan area, were BCFB’s first Country Connection couple, spending a few days here during harvest. - photo by photos by Susan Thacker/Great Bend Tribune

Editor’s note: This is the first of two stories about the 106th annual Barton County Farm Bureau meeting. Part two will appear in the Great Bend Tribune on Saturday, Aug. 23.

The Barton County Farm Bureau Association welcomed Country Connections couple Paul and Shannon Holder back to central Kansas on Sunday for the 106th BCFB annual meeting. Others honored that evening were the 2025 Sesquicentennial Farm Family, the 2025 Century Farm Family and the 2025 Farm Family Award winners.

The Holders live in the Kansas City metropolitan area and in June they were invited to spend several days in Barton County as BCFB’s first Country Connections couple. Roger Long from Barton County helped Farm Bureau start this program as a way to give urban guests a chance to visit ag venues.

The Holders are members of the Basehor Kiwanis Club and Osage Trails chapter of Missouri Master Naturalists.

They are sharing their experience with these and other groups.

Paul Holder talked about what they learned:

• Farming is not a job, it’s a life.

• It’s getting very hard to make a living at farming.

• The food supply is safe.

• The water issue is complicated.

• Wildlife can be cool and not cool.

“We learned there are two sides to every issue,” he said. For example, they visited people from Larned who talked about a proposed feed yard; some are for it and some are opposed. They also learned about the water issues in Stafford County, with Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, farmers and city dwellers all sharing resources.

“We all fight some of the same battles,” Holder said. The key is for people to "talk to each other, not at each other."

Honorees

Several awards were presented at the meeting:

2025 Sesquicentennial Farm Family - In 2021 BCFB honored the Lanterman Family with the Century Farm Award. The family farm dates back to October of 1873, when Robert and Duane Lanterman’s great-great-grandfather acquired 160 acres in Barton County

2025 Century Farm Honorees - Austin and Nora Nokes purchased the property in March. Before that, it belonged to Roy and Iva Behrens, Austin’s grandparents. Herman Behrens and his wife, great-grandparents of Austin, were the original owners.

2025 Farm Family Award - The Taff Hughes Family.

Natural Resource Award - Veronica Hughes

2025 Agriculture Reporting Award - Steve Webster

2025 Rural Minds Matter Advocate of the Year Award - Leonard Kaiser.